Family Spotlight

During severe weather events the District sends drivers out early in the morning to evaluate road conditions in the Bend, La Pine and Sunriver areas. We also check on state, county and city road-clearing operations and monitor weather forecasts.

If we decide to delay school start times by two hours, or to close schools for the day, we strive to announce the decision no later than 5:30 a.m. If there is no change in normal operations, we do not make an announcement.

Here’s where to find announcements of school closures or two-hour delayed start times due to severe weather or hazardous road conditions:

• TEXT MESSAGE: Sign up for BLConnect, our emergency alert text messaging system. Register at this link: bls.fyi/blconnect

• WEBSITES: Visit our District website, bend.k12.or.us, or any of our school websites. An alert banner will be posted to every page.

• SOCIAL MEDIA:

• Facebook English: @BendLaPineSchools

• Facebook Spanish: @EscuelasdeBendLaPine

• Instagram: @BendLaPineSchools

• We notify KTVZ, Central Oregon Daily News, KBND and other local news media of our decisions.

Additional information about weather-related closures and delays is available at bls.fyi/snowday.

Winter weather can cause delays in school buses arriving at stops on time. We have an app, MY BUS STOP, that parents, guardians and students can use to know approximately what time their school bus will arrive at their home stop. The bus location is automatically updated and the estimated arrival recalculated to accommodate delays due to weather conditions, heavy traffic or road work.

Subscribe to receive MY BUS STOP notifications. Visit the Google Play Store (for Android) or the App Store (for iOS), search for "Versatrans My Stop" and select Bend-La Pine Schools when prompted. Learn more at bls.fyi/mystop.

It’s not too early to check your student’s grades in ParentVue. We are just past the halfway mark of the first semester. If your school is on the trimester calendar, the first trimester ends December 5.

Check your student’s progress today!

At La Pine Middle School, English Language Arts teacher Dawn Grady makes a meaningful impact on her community every day by advising a program focused on supporting 6th graders. In Where Everybody Belongs (WEB), 8th grade students volunteer to welcome 6th graders and support them throughout the school year. Through WEB, Dawn Grady guides her school in building a positive culture.

On September 17, Cascade Middle School athletics secretary Ruth Uribe was a hero for one of our newcomer families when a Spanish-speaking student missed the bus home on her first day of school. Ms. Uribe’s calm and proactive response and the efforts she made to communicate and reconnect the student to her family showed empathy and care. What she did for the student on that day is just one small example of her willingness to go above and beyond in service of students.

The Champion for Students Award recognizes staff members, students, and community members who go above and beyond to lift up others and improve our school communities. Nominate a Champion for Students today!

Buckingham Elementary, which opened in 1980, is not named after a royal residence in London. The school is named after Velma Buckingham, Superintendent of the Deschutes County School District from 1947 - 1962. During that time, she directed many of the small rural schools throughout Central Oregon.

In 1961, four school districts reorganized under one administration - Bend-La Pine Schools. In 1980, a new elementary school east of Bend was built and named in Ms. Buckingham's honor. "Very few women have schools named after them," she said. "When they told me, I just couldn't believe it."

Next time you drive by Buckingham Elementary, tip your hat to Ms. Buckingham and the legacy she left our community.

Learn the signs of opioid overdose, what to do when someone shows symptoms of opioid overdose, and the availability of Narcan to counter an overdose.

For the full graphic, use this link.

The Board of Directors for Bend-La Pine Schools will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, December 10 at 5:30 p.m. at the Education Center, 520 NW Wall Street in Bend.

For information about board members, meetings and agendas, please visit our School Board page.

Catch up on all the news from the latest School Board meeting on November 12. Click here for Dr. Cook's recap.

Are you curious which district policies and regulations are currently under review? To see proposed changes and give feedback on new language, click here.